The Missouri Tigers men’s wrestling team, currently ranked No. 11, is set to face No. 9 Illinois at the Hearnes Center in Columbia on Monday, Nov. 24 at 6:30 p.m. The match will be available for streaming on ESPN+.
Missouri returns home after competing in the National Duals Invitational in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they finished eighth with a 2-3 record. The Tigers began the tournament with a loss to No. 3 Iowa but responded by defeating No. 22 Little Rock and No. 11 Michigan on the first day. On the second day, Missouri split matches with No. 9 Minnesota but lost by one point before closing out the event against No. 15 Illinois with a defeat that placed them eighth overall.
During these matches, Missouri dropped six one-takedown bouts against Iowa and had a close contest with Minnesota, ultimately losing by a single point.
Redshirt freshman Aeoden Sinclair made significant progress during the invitational weekend, winning four of five matches and moving up in national rankings after defeating top-ranked Max McEnelly of Minnesota by decision, earning the only takedown and accumulating nearly two minutes of riding time.
Another standout was redshirt freshman Mack Mauger, who recorded two falls during the competition against Tyson Roach of Little Rock and Diego Sotelo of Michigan.
As a result of their performances at the National Duals Invitational, Missouri climbed five spots to reach No. 11 in the NWCA Coaches Poll. Sinclair moved from eighth to second nationally at 185 pounds after his victory over McEnelly, while Mauger rose three places to No. 25 at his weight class.
Sinclair and Evan Bates lead Missouri this season with ten wins each; Bates also has eight bonus-point victories while Sinclair has seven. Sinclair leads with four falls so far this season; Mauger follows closely behind with three pins.
True freshman Seth Mendoza competed against five ranked opponents in his first collegiate event and secured wins over Javion Jones of Little Rock and Cam Catrabone of Michigan.
Historically, Missouri trails Illinois in their all-time series with a record of 16-21 but has gone 6-7 under head coach Brian Smith’s tenure. The Tigers last defeated Illinois on Dec. 21, 2023, winning decisively inside Stifel Theatre in St. Louis.
Their most recent meeting was at the National Duals Invitational where Missouri lost to Illinois for seventh place; Mizzou saw decision wins from Zeke Seltzer (141) and Aeoden Sinclair (184), along with an injury default win for Evan Bates and a forfeit win for heavyweight Jarrett Stoner.
Among active wrestlers on the team, Max Mayfield leads with 71 career wins followed by Josh Edmond (66) and Evan Bates (62).
Looking ahead, Missouri will travel to St. Charles for Journeymen Wrestling’s Hustle in the Heartland match on Friday, Dec. 5 where they are scheduled to compete against LIU and No. 5 Nebraska.
